Pretty inspiring that she is 40 (same age as me!) and beat many others half her age! Kind of goes against the popular kiwi ageist view of men and women over 35 being "washed up" and consigned to the scrapheap....being 40 is not what it used to be. Good one.

Fantastic! Over 40s can do well short distance! Well done Melissa!

FAN-tastic work Melissa...I recall you telling our group at Amokura Sea Cadets at Evans Bay about your goal...with light in your eyes....and you have CRACKED IT!! Well done!

Nice one lady :-) You're an inspiration to us all :-)

Totally agree with Paul #28 this is a trivial pursuit and yes Johnny #30 Paul and I should be front page news!

Paul #28:

And I'll assume Paul that your the cut down anyone who achieves sort of guy.

There is always one lurking around.

However, another fantastic effort from Melissa. She came and spoke to the children at Kelburn School and she was very inspiring - such a positive role model. Well done!

And coincidentally...13min 13sec is Dick Quax's former 5000m WR....

Good one!

Notice in the video the guy that came 1st is also the 1st one through the door... Melissa is about 4th through the door. The hardest part about these races is the endurance factor, but you have no chance of ever winning if you aren't one of the first through the door. Overtaking is a real mongrel when you are usually pushing yourself to the limit anyways!

Most of these races have a run in first - 1km or so around the base of the building so racers can space themselves out a bit to prevent the giant crush you see on the video.

Funny here in Malaysia - was surprised looking down the KL Menara tower run winners - Melissa moon/Jonathon Wyatt... there were a surprising number of kiwis!

Great Stuff!! The Aussies have deemed it newsworthy enough that I saw the news scrolled across the TV this morning as I was watching the morning news here. "Kiwi wins Empire State Building womens race" it said.

Well done Melissa, a great ambassador for NZ and Wellington.